Spirit of Fall

Chapter 6 Prank with the Guardian of Fun

I flew through the woods as fast as my powers can go. I didn’t care about the white hair guy anymore. From what I felt from that scream, Abby was in trouble. I flew to where I believed Abby was. I didn’t know how, but I just knew she was in this direction.

When I arrived to where Abby was, I saw three stray dogs surrounding her. They were growling and had foam in their mouths. Their fur was dirty and ragged as if they’ve been sleeping in a garbage dump. Their eyes looked crazed and when they moved, their legs would stagger. They were getting closer and closer to Abby, who looked scared out of her mind. Her face was pale as the snow and tears were streaming down her cheeks, terrified.

“Abby!” I quickly sent bullets of flames at the savaged dogs. “Get away from my sister!”

The dogs cried in pain when the fire burned their fur. While they were jumping around, trying to put the fire out, I landed in front of Abby and quickly made a fire wall surrounding both of us for protection. If the dogs try to get any closer, they’ll be burned to crisps. I didn’t care about anything else besides protecting Abby from these crazy strays.

The dogs were able to put out the fire moments later, but when they saw the fire wall. Their ears drooped and their tails fell between their legs. Fearing the burning flames before them, they quickly ran off.

When the dogs disappeared into the trees, I felt Abby hugging my leg, shaking. I made the fire wall disappear once there were no more danger. I turned around, got onto my knee, and hugged Abby tightly in relief.

“Abby, what are you doing here?” I demanded sternly, staring at her. “I told you it’s dangerous in the forest! That’s why I didn’t want you to come here.”

“Jack didn’ come an’ pway wiff Abby,” she told me through her tears. She tried to rub some off with her puffy white jacket.

I felt bad since I did promise her that I’ll visit her, but I didn’t really had the time. I was planning on seeing her today, but...

“So you aren’t a bad person after all,” I heard a voice from nearby. I knew who that voice belonged to and I quickly aimed my lantern at him.

Standing on a branch on the tree, not far from where my sister and I were, was the white hair guy, looking down at us with interest.

I glared at him distrustfully, this guy hurt my wisps so I wasn’t going to forgive him that easily.

“Jack? Who he?” Abby asked from behind me.

“Jack?” The white hair guy looked confused when Abby called my name and stared at me curiously. “Your name’s Jack?”

“Yeah, so what’s it to you?” I said angrily.

“Well, my name’s Jack, too,” he replied with a playful grin. Then he jumped down from the tree and landed on the ground gently. “So I guess you don’t work for Pitch then.”

“I already told you I work for no one!” I snapped. “Like five minutes ago!”

“Two Jacks?” Abby looked confused. “Abby has two bwothers?”

“What?! No! He’s NOT your brother!” I quickly tried to clear her misunderstanding. “That guy is dangerous! So don’t go near him!”

“Wait wait wait! I’m sorry I attacked you. I didn’t know you were an okay guy,” The white hair Jack tried to apologize, but I wasn’t gonna forgive him just like that.

“You shot me! Chased me! Attacked me! And hurt my wisps! You think I’m going to just say ‘Okay, I forgive you’?!” I shouted out of anger and sent a wave of fire at him.

“Whoa!” The white hair Jack quickly jumped into the air to dodge the fire. “Wait a minute! I really am sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt your... your wisps! I only blew them away out of reflex!”

I didn’t bother listening to his excuses. All I thought was that he hurt my precious wisps.

“Then eat this out of reflex!” I sent more waves of fire at him.

The white hair Jack had to fly around quickly to not get hit, but that didn’t stop me from sending more.

“Dude! Chill down!” The guy had enough and shot an icy blue energy at me.

I countered with my own fire blast and when the two energies collided, it caused a huge explosion again.

BOOM!

The explosion sent blast of air in every direction. I grabbed Abby and used my body to protect her from the blast. Snow flew everywhere. Even I was covered from head to toe with snow.

When the air became clear, I could see the other Jack getting up from the ground. The explosion must’ve sent him flying to the ground.

“Ow... Jeez! Would you just calm down?” He cried out angrily while rubbing the back of his head in pain.

I glared at him distrustfully with my lantern still aiming at him.

“Jack... Abby’s scwared,” I felt a light tug on my leg. I looked at Abby and saw an anxious look in her eyes.

“It’s alright, Abby. I won’t let him hurt you,” I assured her.

“What?! I’m not going to hurt her!” The other Jack argued.

“And why should I believe you!” I argued back.

Then I heard many loud chatters and blabbers in the distance. I quickly looked around and I saw several balls of light flying towards me. I couldn’t believe my eyes, but I knew what they were.

“Guys! You’re alright!” I cried cheerfully, relieved to see my wisps were fine.

The wisps came flying into my chest, their version of a hug. I felt relieved and wrapped my arms around them. “Thank god! You guys aren’t hurt, are you?” I asked worriedly.

The shook their heads and made a ‘uh uh’ sound, which was a no.

“Pwetty wights!” Abby gasped excitedly.

“See? They’re alright. No harm done,” The other Jack said.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you attacked us,” I reminded him. Though my anger had lighten down a little, but that didn’t make my wariness for him go away.

“I said I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you, okay?” The other Jack tried to apologize again. “Since we both had a very bad first impression of each other, let’s start over. I’m Jack. Jack Overland Frost.” He held out his hand for a shake.

I stared at his hand for a while, unsure if I should trust him, but there was no harm in introducing myself. “Jack Oliver Lanternson. These guys here are my wisps,” I pointed to the wisps that were hovering around me while ignoring the other Jack’s hand. “And this is my sister, Abigail Lanternson.”

Jack Frost realized that I wasn’t going to take his hand, so he pulled it back and put it into his sweater’s pocket. “Sooooo, you new in town? I’ve never seen you before.”

“I’ve been here for almost half a year,” I said in a cold tone. “I used to live here over a decade ago before I died,” I added.

“Oh! Uh... I’m sorry about that,” The guy looked like he felt awkward. “And is your sister... um... like you?” He looked at Abby.

“No. She’s still alive and human, if that’s what you mean. She was born long after I died,” I explained still giving him a cold tone.

“Oh... okay,” He scratched his head with his staff, not sure how to continue this weird conversation.

Then I felt Abby tugging my pants again.

“Jack?” She called.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“Yes?” The other Jack replied.

Oh boy, this was going to get complicated. With both our names being Jack, we’ll get confused when someone tries to call one of us.

“I’m hungwy,” Abby replied and right on cue, her stomach growled.

The wisps gasped and stared at her stomach in awe as if they never heard a stomach growl. Now that I think about it, I guess they never had.

“It is lunch time,” I thought. “I should get you home then.”

Then I picked up my sister into my arms and was about to leave when I remembered that it was common courtesy to bid farewell to people when you’re leaving. I turned towards the other Jack and said, “We have to go, so bye.” Then I flew off into the air with my wisps behind me.

“I don’t want to call you Jack since it’s my name as well and it would feel weird to call my own name, so I’m using your last name instead,” I explained.

“Then should I call you Lantern?” He replied back at me.

“What? No! That sounds lame,” I retorted.

“Pumpkin!” Abby suddenly joined in with our nickname debate.

“What?!” I stared at her.

“Pumpkin!” She pointed to my shirt.

I looked down and yes, there’s a pumpkin picture on my shirt. Actually, it’s supposed to be a Jack O’Lantern, but why argue with a kid.

“Pumpkin? Pff!” Frost laughed.

“Um... I guess if your using it, Abby, I’m fine,” I agreed. But when I turned to Frost, “But not you. It would sound creepy if you use it.” Pumpkin sounded like something similar to Cupcake or Cookie that couples would call each other. It’s just too intimate and... ugh, do I have to go any further?

“Agreed. Lantern it is,” He decided.

“Shut it,” I snapped at him. He was seriously getting on my nerve.

“Why are you so snappy? You still mad at me?” Frost asked. This time, he sounded serious.

“Nope. I’m not mad anymore. Just annoyed,” I told him.

“What do I have to do to appease you?” He half demanded half complained.

“Then why do want to appease me so bad?” I retorted back.

“I just want us to be friends. It’s not every century I find someone that I can talk to that is around my age... well, more like appear to be around my age,” he corrected himself.

“Aren’t there supposed to be others like you... like us?” I asked.

“There are others like us, but when it comes to age, they’re a lot older and more... busy with their work,” he explained while trying to poke a wisp that was closest to him, but the wisps just jumped away in surprise.

“So they’re more like adults.”

“Pretty much.”

Then finally, we arrived out my old house. We made sure no one was looking before we landed in the backyard. Someone might get a heart attack if they find a little girl floating in the air.

When I put Abby down, she ran towards the kitchen door. Then she turned around and waved at us. “Bye bye.”

“Bye, Abby. And don’t go wandering in the forest on your own again,” I yelled behind her.

The wisps also bounced around while saying their good byes, but they sounded more like a bunch of babbles.

“See ya, kid,” Frost waved lightly.

Then Abby disappeared into the door.

I was about to take my leave, now that I dropped my sister off, when Frost flew in front of me.

“So these things are called wisps, right?” He pointed at one of the wisps. “Are they like your little helpers?”

The wisps backed away nervously and hid behind my back. They started to chatter something at me. They didn’t seem to like Frost that much.

“Helpers? I guess,” I replied while I walked passed him. “They’re more like my family though.”

I thought for awhile. If what Frost said was true about the other beings like us, then they weren’t that many that have a similar mindset. You know, like a teenager. Sandy was nice and cool, but he’s more like an uncle to me. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have guys like him as a friend. Not that there were that many in the first place.

“Sure, so what do you have in mind?” I agreed.

The wisps looked at me, surprised that I agreed since I was a little hostile towards him before.

“Really? Great! Wanna go see the park? We can hang around there,” suggested Frost.

So I told my wisps to go into the lantern, which they did without arguments, before we flew towards the park. Strange. They probably still didn’t like the Frost guy.

On the way, Frost asked more questions about me and tried to get my mood to lighten up. He also told some stuff about himself, too.

“So you’ve been asleep for more than a decade? Wow, that’s long,” commented Frost.

“I probably would’ve still been asleep if the moon didn’t wake me up,” I said. “And I was getting used to sleeping in the dirt,” I added jokingly.

Frost laughed. “Well, it’s better than waking up in a frozen lake.”

“So do you have any idea why the moon called me?” I asked. I didn’t think changing seasons was the only thing the moon wanted me to do. Or more like it’s not the main purpose. I didn’t know why but that was what I’ve been feeling lately. The moon had been silent since the day I was awaken, so I had zero clue to what he really wanted.

“For me, it also took me awhile to find my purpose. About three hundred years.”

“Three hundred years!?! Is it going to take me that long to know mines?!” That’s waaaay too long!

“It depends. I lost my memory when I first woke up so it took me awhile, but recently, I had them back. My purpose is to bring fun and joy to kids. I’m the Guardian of Fun and I make great snow, so I bring awesome snow days for kids to play,” he explained.

“Guardian of Fun? Is that like some kind of hero title you made yourself?” I joked, though I was curious about the Guardian part.

“There are other Guardians as well like North, the Guardian of Wonder; Tooth, Guardian of Memories; Bunnymund, Guardian of Hope; And Sandman, Guardian of Dreams.”

“Wait a sec. You’re saying Sandy is a Guardian as well?” I looked at him, surprised by this information.

“You know Sandy?” He looked at me, a little surprised as well.

“Yeah, he comes by here a lot,” I told him. “So Sandy’s the Guardian of Dreams. I guess that’s not surprising. The guy makes dreams every night.”

“We’re here,” announced Frost, pointing his staff at the park before us. We flew down towards it, but we didn’t land just yet. We hovered in the air to observe the surroundings.

There were still people and kids in the park. The adults and seniors were either taking a stroll or sitting on a bench while the kids were still playing in the snow.

“Time for a little gust of wind,” I heard Frost whispered.

Then he dived towards the path where the people were walking and he flew passed them, creating a cold wind behind him. There were gasps and screams from the crowd when they were hit by the strong wind. A bunch of stuff were flying around like hats, newspapers, and... was that a wig?!

I laughed so hard when I spotted a guy touching his clean shiny top head as if he was trying to find something. I bet he’s the owner of that wig.

“Come on out guys. It’s time for a little fun,” I called my wisps.

They came out of the lantern and looked around, blabbering in excitement. When they saw Frost freezing a water fountain that a kid was drinking and caused the kid’s tongue to get stuck to the frozen water, they crackled like crazy.

I guess I’m not the only prankster among the magical beings.

“Come on guys. We can’t have him beat us in pranking,” I told the wisps. They all cheered in agreement. Immediately, my wisps flew off in different directions.

I spotted one disappeared into a coffee stand nearby. The guy that was working at the stand was greeting a customer and was about to get her hot mocha latte when he discovered that the lever wasn’t working. Nothing was coming out of the tap. He tried pressing the lever again and again, but nothing. Finally, on the eleventh push, hot brown liquid came gushing out like a hose, freaking out the worker and customer. Even though I was having a good laugh, I did feel bad for wasting good coffee.

Not too far away, a couple of wisps teased a pug that some guy was walking and made it chased them around the owner, causing the leash to tie around his leg. When he tried to get back his balance, the final tug from the dog caused the guy to fall on his bottom. The wisps giggled in laughter.

Then I saw another group of my wisps getting chased by a stray cat. This cat was pretty big, too. The look on the wisps terrified face and high pitch scream pretty much said that this was not part of their plan. They ran through the crowd, jumping on benches, and stands. People were gasping and shouting at the cat as it ran passed them. A poor old man almost tripped in the process. Finally, the cat fell into a trash bin with a loud Yeow! and the wisps sighed in relief.

Seeing how my wisps were having their fun, I just had to join in. Can’t let my wisps do all the work.

“Wow, your wisps sure know how to create a havoc,” Frost appeared beside me and commented as he watched the wisps stole a lady’s scarf.

“My turn,” I announced and flew towards the group of kids that were playing in the snow. To my luck, some of those kids were ones I recognized, too. Sam, Christ, and the others were here. This was going to be fun!

I launched a few small fireballs at the snow covered ground, melting the snow and creating holes. The kids that were running didn’t see the holes and eventually tripped in them. I made five kids fall in three seconds, including Christ. How’s that!

Then I dived towards Kirt and took his hat, creating my own gust of wind like Frost. Believing that the strong wind took his hat, he chased after it like crazy.

“Hey! Get back here!” Kirt yelled, running after it. Not looking where he’s going, he crashed into another boy and both fell into the snow.

“Hey!” The boy cried, annoyed.

“Sorry!” Kirt apologized and he quickly got up to run after the hat again.

After I had enough, I dropped it onto the ground and to my surprise, Kirt actually pounced on it. Head first into the snow.

Kapoof!

Snow scattered everywhere. I fell into the snow, laughing.

“Phew! Got it,” breathed Kirt, relieved. He was brushing off the snow off his hat when I had another idea.

I drew a smirking face on the snow in front of him with my fire. It took a second for Kirt to notice the face appearing in the snow without seeing anyone drawing it.

“Aaaaaahhhhh!” His eyes were wide in shock and he threw his hat into the air.

“Kirt, what’s the matter?” Sam came running towards him, worried.

“Face! There’s a face in the snow!” Kirt pointed to where he saw the face.

But by that time, I already erased it so no evidence was left behind.

“I don’t see any face,” Sam looked around.

“What? But it was right there! The face just appeared on the snow and nobody was drawing it,” explained Kirt, shaken.

I couldn’t help chuckling at the look on his face. Why was he so much fun to scare?

“Are you having hallucination again, Kirt? Last time was a laughing ball. Now a face in the snow? You really need to go check your eyes,” Christ said, clearly doubting Kirt.

“I’m serious!” Kirt cried.

Seeing how Kirt was going to look like he was crazy, I went up to Christ, used the pole of my lantern, and knocked his leg, causing him to fall backwards into the snow.

“Woah!”

Poof!

8/10 points. His fall wasn’t graceful enough.

“Christ?” Both Sam and Kirt called, worried and surprised.

“I’m okay!...What just happened?” Wondered Christ, still confused at his sudden fall.

“You slipped,” Brian said as he walked up to the group. “9/10”

“And fell,” added Jenny. “7/10”

“What’s the numbers for?” Demanded Christ.

“You need to work on the fall without looking like you’re flapping like a chicken,” explained Jenny.

Ouch! Harsh judge.

“Well, I thought it was funny,” disagreed Brian.

And here’s the easy going judge.

Christ didn’t look amused. Both Kirt and Sam were holding in their laughter behind him, but I could still hear their giggling.

“Twins,” Christ said under his breath in an unamused tone.

Oh! So Jenny and Brian were twins! I guess they do look kinda similar. Now that I have a better look at them up close, Christ had this light blue eyes, Sam’s was dark brown, Kirt’s were green, Jenny and Brian had greyish eyes.

I’m not sure why, but something about Kirt reminded me of someone, but who?

Just when I trying to remember who Kirt reminded me of, I heard someone shouting from nearby.

“Kirt! Your mom said it’s time for you to come home!”

“Uncle Michael!” Kirt turned around at the caller.

Immediately, I turned to look as well when Kirt said that name and there, standing on the pathway, was Mikey! Now I know who Kirt reminded me of. It was Mikey! Both their appearance and personality was very similar! Even their easy-to-scare habit was the same.

Mikey was waving at Kirt as the boy ran up to him. He was all grown up and taller and... skinnier. So many things about him changed. He didn’t look like that timid boy in school anymore. He looked more mature now.

I watched as Kirt waved good bye to his friends and walked home with Mikey. I kept watching them until I felt someone patting me on my shoulder.

“You alright?” Frost asked, looking at me worriedly.

“I’m fine,” I assured him. “I just saw an old friend, that’s all.”

Now that I think about it. I wonder how Irwin and Phil were doing. What happened to them after the mine collapsed that night?

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